Monday, June 30, 2008

The Kingdom


I saw this on IMDB a while ago, and was struck by the range of reactions to it. Some loved it, some hated it, some were plain indifferent. So, I put it in the middle of my Amazon/LoveFilm rental list and forgot about it.

It arrived in the post last week. I'm not sure why, as it was still WAY down the list, but I decided to watch it with the kidz after a Saturday outing to Brent Cross.

Jamie Foxx plays a FBI agent leading a strike team (Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman) into Saudi Arabia to find a gang of terrorists who have attacked American employees working in the Middle East.

The film alternates between an almost documentary style, complete with grainy images and wobbly hand-held camera work, and blistering, full-on battles that owe more to computer game cut-scenes than real-life.

The acting is good, Garner is particularly adept at demonstrating the mixture of emotions that the situations demand. And there is one particularly messy (and prolonged) fight sequence that had us all jumping, squirming and 'arrghh-ing'.

The strength and weakness of the film is that it tries to be sympathetic to everyone. The good side to this is that you are made aware of the 'grey-ness' of the situation. The downside is that with no real questions being asked or answered, you are left with an unsatisfying vagueness, an ellipsis rather than a full stop or a question mark.
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1 comment:

liambyrnes said...

Sounds INteresting, might have to have a watch myself.

Thanks for blogging this.

 
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